Small businesses all over Canada are scrambling to prepare for a new piece of legislation that is going into effect on July 1st. The new law says that businesses cannot send any type of electronic message to customers without their consent. This includes emails, texts and social media messages. There are two types of consent defined under the legislation: implied and express. Consent can be implied in cases where a previous relationship exists. It can include an exchange of business cards, sign-up forms where no consent is asked, or verbal requests either in person or over the phone.
The penalty for violating this law is up to $1 million for an individual and up to $10 million for a company. This ranks as one of the harshest laws of this type in the world.
To many businesses, this new law comes as a surprise. Many did not even know this was going into effect until they saw reports about it on the news. There has been some backlash from small business owners because it creates more work for them but for millions of Canadian internet users, the law should provide them with greater control over their inboxes.
To learn more details about the new CASL legislation, click here.
By: Tony Fong